Standard & Poor's Ratings Services on Wednesday announced it has lowered its rating on Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority's power revenue bonds four notches to “B-“ from “BB,” further deepening the agency’s credit woes.
The U.S. mainland’s three credit ratings agencies showered Puerto Rico with downgrades and warnings of further revisions Friday, upholding a trend that began a day earlier in response to the filing of a bill paving the way for the restructuring of fiscally troubled public agencies.
The Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority got a double-whammy from stateside credit ratings agencies, which separately downgraded the agency’s credit a day after Gov. García-Padilla announced a bill paving the way for the restructuring of fiscally troubled public corporations.
Fitch Ratings downgraded Wednesday the rating on $8.7 billion of the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority’s power revenue bonds to “BB” from “BB+,” putting them at junk level. In addition, Fitch also placed the “BB” classification on rating watch negative.
The Government Development Bank for Puerto Rico spent $2.6 million to pay for the services of two stateside law firms, Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP and Proskauer & Rose LLP, seeking advice on “financing plans and other related matters.”
A contingent of the government’s fiscal team is in New York today for two days of meetings with credit ratings agencies Standard & Poors, Fitch and Moody’s, which are all keeping close tabs on Puerto Rico’s financial problems and the steps being taken to address the crunch.
Fitch Ratings placed the 'BBB-' ratings of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico’s general obligation (GO) bonds, the Puerto Rico Building Authority government facilities revenue bonds guaranteed by the commonwealth, the Puerto Rico Aqueduct and Sewer Authority’s commonwealth guaranty revenue bonds, and the Employees Retirement System’s pension funding bonds on negative watch Thursday.
Ratings on short- and medium-term notes issued by Puerto Rico municipal bond funds remain stable despite severe price volatility in the island's municipal market, Fitch Ratings service said Thursday.
Government Development Bank President Javier Ferrer and Puerto Rico Treasury Secretary Melba Acosta- took off to New York Wednesday to meet with credit ratings agencies S&P, Fitch and Moody’s to continue informing on the administration’s efforts to stabilize the government's finances.
Fitch Ratings officials said Monday the pension reforms that the Puerto Rican government has enacted are “positive and an important step toward achieving credit stability.”
Fitch Ratings downgraded Puerto Rico’s debt to 'BBB-' from 'BBB+, a notch above “junk,” following the decisions by its colleagues at Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s in recent weeks.
High-ranking government officials said Thursday that the decision by Standard & Poor’s a day earlier to slash Puerto Rico’s credit rating to near-junk status was “not a surprise” given the persisting grim economic scenario, but in its analysis the agency is giving the current administration “room to tackle the general fund deficit.”
In what constitutes yet another, but expected, blow to Puerto Rico’s fragile credit condition, Fitch Ratings announced Thursday it has placed the island’s general debt, as well as that of several government agencies, on negative watch.
Fitch Ratings announced Thursday it had completed its review of four rated Puerto Rican Banks — Doral Financial Corp., First BanCorp, Popular Inc. and Santander Bancorp — adjusting and affirming its ratings and outlook for each financial institution.
Fitch Ratings expects Puerto Rican banks to face continuing operating challenges in 2013, despite recent efforts by those institutions to build capital and de-risk their balance sheets, the agency said in a statement issued Wednesday.
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